Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Nats’ Top 3 over Doc, Cliff and Cole? Whatever

The Nationals are trying their best to build a rivalry with the Phillies in the National League East.

It started with their Take Back the Park campaign, designed to make tickets less accessible to Phillies fans for the Phillies-Nationals series May 4-6 at Nationals Park. But then Nationals manager Davey Johnsontold The Washington Post the other day he would take Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmermann and the rest of his rotation over Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels and the rest of the Phillies’ rotation, in part because of their youth and potential.

“Their top three versus our top three, stuff-wise, we match up as good,” Johnson told the Post.

“I guess that’s his opinion,” Rich Dubee said.

Asked what he thought about Johnson’s comments, Lee said, “He should (take them) because that’s his only option. It’s what he’s got to do.”

In other words, whatever.

Lee said he wouldn’t compare Halladay, Hamels and himself to any other pitchers on any team in baseball.

“I’m not trying to compare myself to anybody,” Lee said. “There’s nothing good that’s going to come out of that. I know we’re proven and we’ve shown what we can do, and if we’re healthy we stack up pretty good against anyone. I’m not going to sit here and try to create something out of nothing because to me really that’s nothing.”

Asked about the Take Back the Park campaign, Lee said, “That’s another nothing thing for me. Whatever. They should try to get more fans to come out and support them. They should expect a lot out of their team. It’s normal stuff. He should think his pitchers are better than anyone. He should think all his position players are better than anyone else. He should think he’s got the best bullpen. If he doesn’t, what’s he thinking?”

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11 Comments

Oh brother! Did they interview Johnson after a 3-day drinking binge?
If the Nats actually had a fan base, they’d be coming here to watch games. Instead, they try to shut us out. Meanwhile, tons of tickets available on Stub Hub, who seems to be the real winner in this pissing contest.

What choice does he have? He could just say that he likes his starters. He doesn’t have to compare them to 3 guys who finished in the top 5 of the Cy Young voting last year. There are limits to loyalty.

First, why don’t they try to end the year in second, before worrying about building a rivalry? Hard to build a rivalry when you consistently end up 20 games behind the other team. Then they can start comparing rosters and rotations.

Much ado about nothing really. It will be a good day for baseball when tickets in DC for Phillies phans are hard to get. Lest we forget, as well, the Phillies were 8-10 against the Nationals last year.

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